


Feel The Sun

by AerithFaremis



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/M, First Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24984328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerithFaremis/pseuds/AerithFaremis
Summary: Cloud had never felt what to have a friend is. He thought he didn't deserve that kind of affection."Cloud had never felt something like that before. His heart was blooming with happiness, although his face was still because of the unexpected of the situation."Alternative Universe in which Cloud and Aerith meet when they are two adorable children!
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	Feel The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to another Clerith fic of mine! This time, I wanted to write about this beautiful couple as children (slightly Alternative Universe!). I'm sure they would have been happy if they had the chance to meet each other. I hope you like it!! Feel free to leave a comment if you want and I will happily read it! ^^
> 
> P.S: English is not my mother tongue, sorry for the possible mistakes!  
> P.S 2: Thank you so much for reading my stories!

Claudia Strife let out a huge sigh when she finished stacking all the cardboard boxes which contained all hers and her son clothes and belongings. It had been a really long journey from Nibelheim to Midgar, and she was tired of unpacking their stuff and cleaning their new house. Cloud had helped her in everything he could, but he was only a twelve - year old kid after all. She could not ask him to do the biggest effort there.

The blond woman looked at her son with an affectionate smile. He looked so alike to her, with his light blond locks and his deep azure eyes. He seemed to be a little bit quieter than usual, and Claudia was worried about how he would get used to this new town and its people.

“Cloud, honey, do you like our new home?” she asked. His son, who was looking at the minimal decoration of their living room, turned around to look at her, hiding his eyes a little under his blond bangs.

“It’s alright, I guess” he simply said. His mother giggled and walked towards him, putting a hand over his shoulder.

“I know it’s hard to leave our little village and try to get used to this…enormous city. But, from now on, everything is going to be great for us! Fortunately, mom has a new job and you are going to go to a different school, too!” she explained, with tenderness and excitement.

But her son was not sharing her excitement, at least, not at all. Claudia could even say that he was forcing a little his smile.

“Okay, mister. Now it is time for you to tell me what’s going on inside your mind.” she knelt down in front of him, worried. To move on from Nibelheim and starting a new life there, at Midgar, was one of Claudia’s dreams. She desired to have a new chance at the big city, to start again from scratch and to have a happier life together with her beloved son.

Cloud hesitated a bit before saying anything to his mother. She was the only person he could trust greatly, but he was cautious to share his worries and fears to her, overall those which damaged her too. But he needed to be calm, to soothe his mind so that way he would be able to protect his mother and take care of her.

“Uh…he is not coming…right?” the child asked, avoiding his mother’s gaze for a moment.

“He?” repeated Claudia, frowning.

“…Father…” murmured Cloud, as if only saying his name out loud could summon him.

His mother closed her eyes for a brief moment and smiled tenderly: 

“No, love. He won’t ever come again.” she answered, hugging her son tightly.

Claudia could not say her marriage with Cloud’s father had been a happy one. He…had some problems with alcohol and violence, and his presence was upsetting for both Claudia and their son. Cloud’s father was always in trouble with their neighbors at Nibelheim, which soon made a fuss and controversy around their family, although Claudia was always generous and kind with them.

But with Cloud… it was just another story. Kids are cruel when they are taught to be cruel. So, children were aware of the rumors about that violent and drunk father Cloud had, and started rejecting her son and avoided playing with him.

Claudia remembered with sadness how hurt his son felt, his tears, his loneliness. Outside their home, Cloud always started a ruckus whenever he felt out of other children’s games; but inside their home, her son was always crying and that was enough to enraged his father. It was right after the first time Cloud’s father tried to hit him when Claudia decided that they had gone through enough, and she decided to move to Midgar.

“I’m feeling a bit hungry” said Claudia “Let’s go for a walk around the city and grab some tasty food, sounds good?”

So, after that, Claudia and her son were walking together around the Sector 5 of Midgar. The woman was not sure why she had chosen that Sector specifically for living in it, but she had always been a woman of strong intuitions and she perceived a good feeling each time she thought about that place.

“Look, Cloud, there are chocobos here too” she said, pointing at some golden feathered beautiful creatures that were riding slowly across the town. She knew how much his son liked chocobos and took a look at his face, brightening at the sight of that wonderful creatures.

“Mom, is it true that here they have different colored chocobos?” he asked, with a tiny excitement.

“Mm…I don’t know! But, maybe, one day, we will find out! We have just arrived, after all” she said, letting out a chuckle.

They walked for a while, checking every single thing they could, having fun as they were discovering each shop and market stall of the Sector. People seemed to be nice there, at least, that was the feeling Claudia got as each person they met greeted them with a smile.

Finally, they both found a food stall. Claudia felt her stomach muscles churn with hunger as she smelled those delicious noodles that were being cooked at the stall. She went to the queue and waited patiently, looking around the place.

As they were waiting at the queue, she saw some children playing with wooden swords near them. Her eyes lit up as an idea came up in her mind. That could be a great chance for Cloud to make new friends! She bent down until her eyes met his son’s and told him:

“Do you want to go and play with them?”

Cloud took a moment to look around and analyze those children that were playing near them. They looked happy and they were having lots of fun, so the blond kid was not sure if he was the perfect candidate to join them. Probably, they would reject him as soon as a “hello” came out from his mouth.

“…Mom, I don’t think…” he began to say, but his mother pushed him lovingly towards the kids.

“C’mon, Cloud! I might be a while here, go on and have fun! I’ll be right here!” Claudia said, a great smile stamped on her face. She moved her eyebrows up and down, reassuringly.

So Cloud, hesitatingly and prudent, walked forward and stood only a few feet far from the children. He paid attention to them, watching them with intensity.

“Sir Marcus” exclaimed one of the kids, vigorously “bend the knee and I will spare your life!”

“I am not a coward, Sir Louis! FIGHT!” and with that, the two children started to hit one another with the swords, gesturing as if they were in the middle of a great and harsh medieval war. They fought like this for a little while until one of them noticed the insistent gaze of Cloud over them and stopped.

“Uh…what do you want?” asked one of the kids, looking at him as if he was a freak. He noticed the cautious posture Cloud had adopted: his thin fingers interlaced and trembling and his deep frown. He took advantage of the situation. “What, this?” he asked, lifting up the sword “Do you want to play with us?”

Cloud nodded, slowly.

“Oh, I am … _really_ sorry, but to play as a knight you have to be brave, and you don’t look like a brave knight” the kid mocked him.

Cloud felt how his lips were trembling. He just wanted to hit that stupid kid who was in front of him and show him how brave he was, but he did not want to get into trouble in a new town nor disappoint his mother so soon. Instead, he decided to exclaim:

“I’m not a coward! I’m braver than you!”

“Oh, you are? Let’s see!” he said, but in a blink of an eye and before Cloud could react properly, the obnoxious kid hit him with the hilt of the sword and made him fall on his back. The children burst out in laughs.

“Weirdo!” said one of them, and they run away, leaving Cloud down the floor.

The blond kid sat down and stood on his knees, trembling. All the fears and hurt he had felt during his short life were joining him at this moment, even when he was trying to start from scratch in a new town, where no one knew about his past nor his father’s background. He wanted to let all his tears flow down his cheeks, because he was starting to assume that he was going to be alone all his life, that he was the problem there and he did not deserve to be loved by other people of his age, but he just could not. Although the lump in his throat was too strong to be resisted, he had to.

Suddenly, he saw a white, thin hand in front of him, waiting to be hold. Slowly, he raised his blue eyes, facing a light green vaporous dress until he met up with a pair of beautiful emerald eyes staring at him.

The little girl smiled at him patiently, shaking her hand again in front of his eyes. He looked at her with great curiosity, who was this girl and…why was she trying to help him?

“You have to hold my hand so I can help you get up!” she explained, amused. She thought that maybe this child in front of her was from another country and he was not understanding what an outstretched hand meant.

“I _already_ know that” Cloud let out, rudely. But it did not seem to cause any effect on that girl, whose smile was still there, on her lovely face. She could understand that he was not being rude because he wanted to; instead, he was trembling like a leaf blown by the wind, as if he was scared.

“Oh, so, if you already _know_ that, why don’t you hold it?” she said, playfully.

Cloud frowned. He wanted to hold that hand, but that girl was being too strangely nice with him. It would take only some more minutes before she screamed into his face that he was a weirdo and she would run away, leaving him alone again. So, he just stood up without her help and look at her over his shoulder.

“I can do it alone, thanks.” he let out.

“Right!” she said, with a big smile again, and Cloud could not help but open his eyes widely in surprise. Why wasn’t she upset with him and his rudeness? “Are you new to the town? Haven’t seen you before! What’s your name?”

He instantly felt awkward. She was not looking at him as if he was a monster or a dirty bug…instead, she was looking at him with awe and genuine curiosity. She wanted to know who this new boy was, because she knew pretty well all the other children from the Sector and that face was not familiar to her.

She put a hand on her chin and looked at him with a mischievous glint on her eyes:

“Hmm…I’m starting to think that you only understand a few words. Do you know what a ‘name’ is, do you?” she said, a light – hearted tone of voice coming out from her mouth.

“Of course, I know what a ‘name’ is. I’m Cloud.” he introduced himself, still cautious around this girl. She would soon leave and…

“I’m Aerith! Nice to meet you!” she said, stretching out her hand again and waiting for him to hold it. “Slowly losing circulation in arm…Okay!” she held both her hands together and shook them with great energy “Nice to meet you, Aerith!” she said, faking a low voice tone.

Cloud could not help but stifle a little laugh in front of that funny scene. She was probably as strange as he was but…she was being _nice_.

“So _funny_ ” he said, pretending to sound serious.

“But you sure let out a laugh, huh?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about” he said, refusing to look at her as a slight pink shade tainted his cheeks.

All of a sudden, Aerith hit his shoulder and let out a joyful scream:

“You can’t catch me!” she said, and began to run quickly. Cloud was perplexed at the beginning, but he soon went after her, running as fast as he could. He had to show her how fast he was!

Unexpectedly, he lost sight of Aerith as he went through a shadowy corridor, a path under the shelter of some trees. He stood in silence as he could hear how effortlessly the girl was trying not to make noise and how she stifled some giggles. He drawn a cocky smile on his face and stomped his feet, pretending he was walking away. Then, he heard some noises behind him and, in the blink of an eye, he caught Aerith’s wrist softly and said:

“I’ve found you!”

“OH! He…hey, are you a chocobo or something? You are very fast!” she said. They stared silently into each other’s eyes for a moment, before they burst into laughing.

“That was fun!” Aerith said “Hey, Cloud, come here! I want to show you something!” she began to run a few feet forward. Cloud wanted to go after her, but he remembered how his mother was waiting for him at the food stall queue and maybe she was terribly worried for him as he was out of sight.

As if Aerith had read his mind, she stopped and turn around.

“Don’t worry! I’ll take you back at the food stall! Come on!” she said. Cloud wondered how long she had been spying him, but he found out that he did not care too much as he was running behind her, following her.

They arrived at a little wooden house, surrounded by a beautiful garden full of flowers with a pond of water under a bridge. It looked like a fairytale’s garden, and Cloud was sure that there were nymphs and gnomes hiding under the roses and the daisies.

“This is my garden!” she said.

“It’s amazing!” he let out, with amazement, not wanting to lose any little detail from it. “Did you plant all these flowers?”

“Yes, well, I helped mom do it. Come on!”

She took his hand softly and led him to a tiny hill full of white and yellow lilies. He felt the warmth of her hand and how this warmth filled his heart with something similar to joy. He squeezed her hand too, gently.

They sat down on the grass and Cloud could smell the fresh lilies that were surrounding them.

“I like to sit down here every afternoon and feel the sun. At least, that tiny ray that comes through the plate.” she said, closing her eyes and slightly tilting her head back. She opened just one eye and looked at him at the corner of her eye. “Come on, _feel the sun_ ”.

Hesitatingly, he imitated her and closed his eyes, _feeling the sun_. He felt the heat and the warmth of it in his face and his eyelids. He was starting to feel relaxed, almost drowsy.

“I heard what those children screamed to you” she said. He looked at her, worried. She had her eyes widely opened, but full of affection, staring at him. He was anxious and frightened. Those stupid children had called him “weirdo” and maybe Aerith was about to reject him. He must had known before: everything was being so perfect and amusing, it could not last longer.

“Were you spying me or something?” he said, trying to sound cool, but actually, he just wanted to hide his fear.

“No, I wasn’t. I was just on my way back home. Mom doesn’t let me play outside until so late.” She let out a sigh “But, you know? I’m a _weirdo_ too. Honestly, it’s not that bad!” she had a soft smile on her lips. Cloud was surprised and almost overwhelmed, but he let himself be infected by her smile.

She took his hand on hers again and said:

“We can be the weirdest children of Sector 5! And we can be friends too, I’m sure we will have lots of fun! I know a lot of games we can play, a lot of hideouts…gosh, it’s going to be great!”

“Friends?” was the only thing Cloud was able to say “You…want to be my friend?”

“Of course, I want! What about you?” she asked. His heart skipped a beat. That girl in front of him was the very first person who wanted to spend time with him, who was not scared of him nor wanted to make fun of him. The glint on her eyes was so genuine, so full of affection…Cloud had never felt something like that before. His heart was blooming with happiness, although his face was still because of the unexpected of the situation.

Before he could say anything, he heard a voice coming from behind them.

“Cloud? Oh, my god, Cloud, there you are!” it was his mother, looking worried as she run to him. She took a look on him to check if he was okay. “I have been looking for you, I thought I had lost you! Are you okay?”

“Yes, mom. Don’t worry” he answered, ashamed when his mother ruffled his hair affectionately in front of Aerith.

“I’m sorry, I should have had an eye on you! And…who is this girl?” Claudia asked, with a pleasant smile towards the kid in front of her. Cloud stood up and helped Aerith getting up before he said:

“Aerith, a friend of mine”. They smiled to each other, with genuine happiness.

“Hello, Aerith, I’m Claudia! Thank you for taking care of my son! Is this your house? We live a few blocks from here, so make sure you come for a visit every time you want!”

“Hear that, Cloud? You can always come to my house, too!” she said, playfully.

After saying goodbye to Aerith, Cloud and his mother returned to their new home. While they were having dinner, the boy told Claudia everything about Aerith and she could not help but notice the cheerfulness and excitement coming out from his mouth. She smiled with tenderness, feeling pleased. She was glad her son Cloud had finally found someone so nice as Aerith that he could call a friend.

They felt asleep and next morning, Claudia woke up when she heard his son Cloud going downstairs. She took a look at her alarm clock and saw that it was about eleven o’clock that Sunday. She got up from the bed and went outside her bedroom to see his son, ready to go.

“Cloud, honey, where are you going?” she asked, curious.

“Aerith’s house! I’m going to play with her! Bye!” he said, quickly going outside their house.

Claudia let out a giggle and got ready for a new day in their new life.

**Author's Note:**

> https://twitter.com/FaremisAerith
> 
> Posting my fics in a Twitter account I’ve made :)


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